Towards a Future Where People Worldwide Make Wagashi at Home and Enjoy Japanese Culture

Our company supports April Dream, which aims to make April 1st a day for announcing dreams. This press release is the dream of the "Japan Wagashi Association for Overseas Promotion."

### Making Wagashi a More Familiar Presence The Japan Wagashi Association for Overseas Promotion is engaged in activities that convey Japanese culture to foreign visitors to Japan through wagashi-making experiences. (Experience HP: https://www.simplyoishii.com/)

### Towards a World Where Japanese Culture is Conveyed with Every Bite Wagashi is beautiful, delicate, and reflects the four seasons. However, its charm has only reached a part of the world.

We aim to expand wagashi from a "culture to observe" to a "culture to make, experience, and share." We wish to realize a future where people all over the world make wagashi at home and come into contact with the Japanese seasons and aesthetics behind it.

Currently, the recognition of wagashi in the world is not yet high compared to Western confectionery. Also, it is often seen as "something special made only by artisans."

However, wagashi can actually be easily made at home with few ingredients, and many types do not use animal products or wheat flour, making them healthy and gluten-free, so they can be enjoyed regardless of religion.

Wagashi not only has beauty but also holds the potential to be a food culture that anyone can enjoy.

The Japan Wagashi Association for Overseas Promotion introduces wagashi in an easily enjoyable form through recipes that can be replicated at home. In the process, it offers experiences where participants can learn about seasons, events, and traditional Japanese values.

### Training Personnel to Convey to the World The Japan Wagashi Association for Overseas Promotion is also focusing on training personnel who can teach wagashi in English.

To date, we have provided know-how on teaching wagashi in English to women with overseas experience and English proficiency, and to individuals interested in international communication.

As a result, many bilingual instructors are now active in a wide range of settings, including experiences for inbound tourists, large-scale corporate events, and workshops at international schools.

Strengthen team building with wagashi! Providing English-compatible programs for foreign-affiliated companies (December 5, 2024) https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000001.000147361.html

### Future We Aim to Realize From now on, while offering wagashi experiences to more inbound tourists, we will further expand our activities, including strengthening our presence in corporate events and team building, holding overseas workshops, and providing wagashi education to confectionery schools.

#April Dream Wagashi is not just a sweet. It is a culture that conveys Japanese aesthetics and spirit. Through wagashi, we want to bring a little richness and inspiration to the lives of people around the world. And we want to realize a future where instructors who convey its charm can be active worldwide. To create a world where "Wagashi" becomes a universal language. That is the dream of the Japan Wagashi Association for Overseas Promotion.

*This press release is based on the "April Dream" project and expresses the future dream of the Japan Wagashi Association for Overseas Promotion.

Japan Wagashi Association for Overseas Promotion Co., Ltd. Activities: Promotion of Japanese culture through wagashi experiences, instructor training, planning and operation of domestic and international events Target: Foreign visitors to Japan, corporations, educational institutions, etc. Experience classes at Meguro Studio: Simply Oishii Wagashi School Homepage: https://www.simplyoishii.com/